


Zoned

by SleepieAsh



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Oblivious Lee Taeyong, Subway, Walmart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 01:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30013689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepieAsh/pseuds/SleepieAsh
Summary: Honestly, when Taeyong thought about it, there were really only three good things about working at Walmart: the flexibility, the benefits and the Subway that was located directly across from the checkout registers.
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Yuta/Jaehyun is implied
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13
Collections: NCT Walmart Fic Fest R1





	Zoned

“Why does it always take you 14 hours to close your register?”

Yuta leaned back onto Taeyong’s conveyor belt, effectively ruining the sanitation he’d just completed. Taeyong grimaced before pushing his friend off and spraying the area once again, wiping it carefully.

“It’ll take me 15 if you don’t shut up and let me wipe in peace.” Taeyong replied simply.

Yuta groaned but obediently quieted down, standing close but thankfully away from the newly sanitized register. Taeyong hid the small smile that tried to force its way onto his face at his friend. The two of them had been close for so long that although they occasionally (frequently) annoyed each other, they were rarely apart.

Ever since they’d begun working at Walmart at roughly the same time, they frequently opted to have the same shift so they could eat lunch together. Said lunch was usually spent at the Subway located inside of the Walmart. Mostly out of convenience and partly for another reason Taeyong tried to ignore.

Today was yet another day that they ended up there.

“Hello, what can I get for you today?” the boy behind the counter deadpanned as they approached.

Taeyong and Yuta exchanged a glance before smiling in unison at the other male.

“You’re getting much better at customer service, Sicheng!” Taeyong exclaimed gleefully.

“You call that ‘better’? His voice didn’t change the entire time.” Yuta supplied, seemingly holding back a laugh as Sicheng narrowed his eyes at him.

“At least he said ‘Hello’ this time, Yuta...”

Sicheng scoffed and began to place thin plastic gloves on his hands as he got ready to make the orders that he most likely knew by heart. “I really hate it here.” he said, pulling bread from the shelves behind him. “Yangyang went on his 15-minute break an hour ago and that left me to deal with you two.”

“What did I do?” Taeyong huffed.

“Chose to be friends with Yuta-hyung.” Sicheng replied simply. “Honestly, you should be arrested for something so heinous.”

“You and I are literally friends too.” Yuta interjected.

“Tell that to the phone I had to replace after you and your boyfriend ran over it.”

“That was an accident!”

Taeyong tuned out their bickering and instead turned to the back of the store. Working directly across from the only Subway for miles gave him the opportunity to learn the schedules of his co-workers who had become his close friends over the time they’d worked together. Usually, there was another person sharing the shift with Sicheng and Yangyang, but as Taeyong peered behind the counter, he couldn’t catch even a glimpse of another human being.

“Looking for Doyoung?” Sicheng asked suddenly, causing Taeyong to turn around to him. Both he and Yuta wore matching grins.

“What makes you say that?”

“Probably the way you’re almost jumping over the counter.” Yuta replied.

“I’m not!” Taeyong replied and wordlessly planted his feet firmly on the tiled floor.

“He totally was.” Sicheng whispered to Yuta as if Taeyong wasn’t standing right next to them. Yuta only nodded vigorously in response.

Taeyong rolled his eyes but offered no other comment.

“If you’re actually wondering where he is,” Sicheng started as he placed the sandwiches into the oven. “He said something about retrieving a shipment.”

“A shipment of what?” Taeyong asked, raising an eyebrow

“I don’t know that information. I just make sandwiches.”

“And sometimes you don’t do that.” Yuta piped up.

Taeyong pretended he didn’t see as Sicheng threatened to burn Yuta’s food and possibly Yuta as well. Instead, he told them both a quick “be right back” and set off out of the mini restaurant. As fun as being with Yuta and Sicheng was, his aforementioned reason for visiting Subway so frequently was absent. That was essentially just a cue to make himself scarce and search for the other male.

Thankfully, actually locating Doyoung proved to be fairly easy. Taeyong had been looking around for less than a few minutes when he spotted the other male crouched in front of boxes in the candy aisle. He approached him and peered into the boxes.

“Hey, that looks like a lot to stock. Do you want help?” Taeyong asked.

Doyoung looked up from his crouched position, blinking rapidly in surprise. Something that Taeyong had always found cute (although he wouldn’t admit that to anyone but himself). “Oh, hey. Sure, if you really want to.”

Taeyong nodded. “What are you even doing here? This isn’t part of your job. Sicheng said you were getting a shipment.”

“That’s true, just some condiments and stuff came in so I was getting those boxes.” He pushed the boxes aside while saying this. “I ended up seeing Renjun struggling with this candy and offered to help.”

“How generous.”

“Shut up.”

Doyoung switched his position on the floor slightly and gestured to his back. Taeyong only blinked in confusion.

“Get on.” Doyoung said when he realized Taeyong was lost.

“Don’t people usually not use other people to reach high places?” Taeyong asked in reply.

“They do when they don’t have a stool or ladder within sight. Now, come on.”

Taeyong blinked again, but followed his direction. Doyoung gripped his legs once he was in place and stood slowly. Taeyong easily found himself face to face with the shelf they needed to reach and smiled before looking down at Doyoung.

“Is this weird?” Taeyong asked from his place on Doyoung’s shoulders.

“Doesn’t feel any different from when you’re trying to choke the life out of me.” Doyoung joked with a small smile and tightened his grip around Taeyong’s legs slightly.

Inwardly, Taeyong disagreed. It was vastly different if the warmth that was currently spread throughout him was any indication. He tried to ignore it in favor of completing their task. He’d only been at it for about ten minutes before a familiar voice sounded through the empty candy aisle.

“Oooooh!” Yuta said as he rounded the corner. He came to a stop a few feet away from them. Taeyong was already struggling to keep the grimace off of his face as the smirk grew on Yuta’s. “What do we have here?”

“It’s called working. We’re literally zoning items.” Doyoung replied.

“Haven’t you two heard of ladders?” Yuta asked, expression unchanging.

“Haven’t you heard of me calling Jaehyun to come and retrieve you?” Taeyong deadpanned rhetorically.

“Damn, alright, I’m just saying.” Yuta replied, backing away. “Y’all use any excuse to be near each other. Pretty sure your crushes aren’t going away, but I guess that’s none of my business.”

With that, Yuta turned to head back to the front registers. Taeyong watched him go for a few seconds before looking down at Doyoung. The other male still had his eyes trained on the shelves, his grip firm on Taeyong’s legs. Taeyong thought he saw the shadow of pink dusting his cheeks, but the angle made it hard to tell.

He elected to going back to straightening the many boxes of candy on the top shelf. After several beats of silence in which Taeyong started to wonder if Doyoung was okay, he finally spoke up.

“What if Yuta’s right?” Doyoung asked.

“Huh?” Taeyong paused in stocking.

“What if what he just said is true?”

“What? Are you feeling okay?”

Taeyong motioned for Doyoung to set him down and once safely on the group, he searched his face for some kind of explanation. He didn’t seem sick or injured, but saying that Yuta was correct in their particular circumstances was a little alarming in Taeyong’s opinion. Although he didn’t find an excuse for Doyoung’s words, he did realize that the younger male was completely serious.

“Wait, are you saying you want to be near me? That you... like me?”

Taeyong stepped back slightly and felt the warmth from earlier envelop him tenfold. If earlier was a gentle heat, it’d transformed into a raging fire.

Doyoung’s eyes narrowed. “I... literally bought us matching rings a few months ago.”

Taeyong guessed he did have a point. Doyoung had presented him with the accessory a while back, brandishing a matching one as he did so. Taeyong teased him about it frequently but he would be lying if he said it didn’t bring a smile to his face every time it caught his eye.

“Yeah, $10 each from the jewelry section.” Taeyong replied, the joke tumbling out as he felt his heart skip a beat at the indirect confession.

Doyoung huffed. “My receipt doesn’t make it any less sentimental. I honestly thought you knew how I felt.”

Taeyong hadn’t had a clue. Despite the gift and the nice message that had came with it, nothing had changed in their relationship. They still argued frequently whether that was at work or not, Doyoung had still treated him the same and Taeyong had still thought everything he felt was unrequited.

“It turned my skin green.” He finally responded.

“Have you always been this ungrateful?” Doyoung sighed.

“Probably, but apparently you still like me.”

“Unfortunately, I do.”

The actual words confirming that his feelings were actually requited only fanned the flames inwardly. He welcomed it, however, as he smiled at Doyoung and received a similar smile in return.

* * *

“Just so you know, that was the worst confession ever. Maybe if you would’ve been cuter, I wouldn’t have doubted you for a bit.”

“Is it too late to have a refund on my feelings?”

“Very funny, retail worker.”

“Thank you. I owe my humor to capitalism.”

“Don’t we all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello!! Hopefully you liked this although it's on the shorter side. First time joining a fest, but honestly the Walmart theme called to me. I worked at Walmart for approximately 3 months before quitting lmao so tbh everyone in this fic is doing better than me smh.


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